Of the 18 fires that the Rockford Fire Department responded to this month, seven of those are to vacant buildings. Vacant buildings can be a safety hazard and eye-sore in Rockford but it’s a problem across America.

"This is a community wide issue and this is a nationwide problem of vacant unsecured buildings,” said Matthew Knott, Rockford Fire Department’s Division Chief. “The best thing we can do is to be good neighbors, be aware of their surroundings, make sure we call upon the proper city authority to help us with these issues."

Neighbors say this house has seen its share of homeless using it for shelter and that creates a level of uncertainty.

"Vacant structures prompt us to take less risk because we're unsure of what we have in store there.” Knott said. "(They) are very, very dangerous to firefighters.That's one thing we hope the neighbors do is report any vacant structures and make sure they are secure and all criminal activity and trespassing reported."

While the number of fires in the month of July has increased from a year ago, Knott knows this issue is more about vacant buildings and demolition.

"There is limited funding available,” Knott said. “But there's a lot of hardwork going on behind the scenes to get these properties in a safer state."

The fear of another fire like this one has Cable on edge.

"My biggest fear is the kids seeing something like that and telling their mom like we just seen this man laid out on the porch. It's kinda scary."